Restaurant and Bakery Consulting

Thursday, October 24, 2013

A few weeks back my boss at UT, Shane, and I joined Diego, our recently graduated
and retired workstudy, for lunch at Taco More. We wanted to touch base with
Diego after several months of his journey off into the real world. It’s not environmental
law, but homeboy has landed a real job that pays him a living, so kudos for
that.Ironically, he got hired once he deleted his degree from the application.

Taco More sits on the Northwest corner of Parkfield and Rundberg in north-ish
central Austin, not that far beyond of 183/Research. At lunchtime the joint is pretty
busy, but Diego was able to snare a table on the patio and had totopos (chips)
and salsa waiting when we arrived. Neither Diego nor Shane had ever been there
before, so I gave them a rundown on the menu. I had eyes only for posole and
chivo.

We got more chips and raided the salsa bar inside. They usually have 6
different salsas and a whole assortment of other treats, like pico de gallo and
radish slices. My favorite sauce is featured here in this shot: it is made from
chile de arbol and crushed peanuts and is hot as hell but very flavorful. They
also have the standard smooth green jalapeño-tomatillo-avocado that everyone is
nuts about. The red sauce here is the raw tomato version of their casera
(house) salsa, which is different from the cooked red salsa served with the
totopos. They are all great.

This shot shows the griddled fresno chiles (they have a little bit of heat, but
not very much) and the small fried, dried hot-as-hell smoky chiles japones that
both grace the salsa bar. The green sauce pictured here tastes like pureed
jalapeños with just a dab of tomatillo and big chunks of avocado; it’s mostly
jalapeño and is quite piquant. The other component in this shot is onion pickled
in a marinade with a little Mexican oregano and vinegar with a little sugar.
The sweet in the sweet-sour is subtle, but they taste really good.

Here is the taco de chivo in all its glory, topped with onion and cilantro.
Rich, sensual shredded goat meat that melts in your mouth with just the right
amount of funk. Taco More handles goat with delicious aplomb.

Here is the TM gringo, two tortillas stuffed here with tender, succulent pork
carnitas and melty queso asadero. This combines for a fantastic gringo that
could only be better with a homemade flour tortilla (the corn tortillas taste
homemade by the way).

But these were just appetizers. What I really wanted off the TM menu was a bowl
of their amazing posole. The “medium” is just over five bucks and comes in a mini
bathtub cradling a rich, aromatic, complex pork broth seasoned with dried red
chiles; it has a little bit of zip to the taste, but is more about chile flavor
than heat. In the broth are white hominy and easily a half pound of the most
tender braised pork chunks you could ever
want to slurp. The broth is loaded with hominy and pork. On the side they bring
another full-sized plate covered with shredded lettuce, radish slices, avocado
slices, onions, and cilantro, all of which get dumped ceremoniously into the
bowl. A smaller side plate holds three
crispy fried corn tortillas to be broken up and added to the bowl. I am an
eater of some renown and it is all I can do to finish a loaded medium bowl of
this magnificent posole. It’s on par with their fabulous chickpea and goat meat
soup that is also offered.

Not that many güeros seem to have discovered Taco More (a good thing); the crowd is usually mostly
Latinos from the neighborhood, but trust me, if you are looking for a dynamite
taqueria, Taco More is the spot for you (no matter your heritage).

Friday, October 18, 2013

A little while back the Three Amigos were going to grab an early Thursday night
bite and we wanted it to happen south, without having to suffer any traffic
abuse; it’s absolute hell getting north anytime between 2:30 and 7:30 pm. We rendezvoused and were going to hit up Royal
India in Sunset Valley, since none of us had eaten there, but when we pulled up
in front at 5:10 the joint was deserted. Turns out they open at 5:30 and it was
sunny and hot as hell, so we decided to bounce. Heading west on the frontage
road, Spec’s was the next turn heading north, so burgers it was.

Note the guacamole oozing at the bottom

Spec’s is the spot for fantastic burgers and sandwiches that nobody seems to
know about, and wouldn’t you know it, we get there and they have a 3 story-tall
sign on the front talking about how they make great burgers and what a secret
it seems to be. Thankfully for us, not them, the place wasn’t crowded and we were
able to saunter up to the counter and order at-will. Our buddy A went with the
guacamole-Monterrey Jack unit, while chum S went for the bacon-grilled
onion-cheddar burger. I am always a sucker for the bleu cheese-bacon burger,
but at that second S’s choice sounded dynamite, so I seconded his selection; it
may be my new favorite.

Thick cheddar and bacon....yummmm

We decided to each get a different side and share: fries, onion rings, and tater
tots. Any spot that has tots on their menu
always gets preference from me; I LOVES me some tots, especially dipped into
some yellow mustard. One of their incredible Reuben sandwiches on the side and
a round of North Carolina’s tart and
bubbly 1917 original cane-sugar cherry soda, Cheerwine, and we were good to go.
By the way, go to North Carolina and they pronounce it KNORR-kahlina and not
GNAW-ER-kahlina.

Cheerwine, Norcalina's tart and bubbly real sugar cherry soda

TOTS!...need I say more?

Another advantage of the interior location is that the cheese section is right
next to the seating area, so hors d’oeuvres of cheese samples are yours for the
taking; there are always a couple offered. Our name gets called and we procure
the baskets and settle in for some serious chow-down. The burgers are flame-grilled,
smoky, moist, and made from high-quality meat. All of the components are first-rate:
the cheddar is aged and rich, the bacon thick-sliced and apple-smoked, the
tomatoes red and ripe. As a lagniappe in your basket you get a spear of a snappy,
garlicky dill pickle. The fries, rings, and tots are all frozen, but of a premium
brand and delivered hot, golden-brown, and crisp (and in mass quantity). The
Reuben is one of the better versions in town, but we were so full I had to
almost choke down my part of it (well, actually more than my part). Since the
place is a deli, the tabletop condiment selection is off the charts; we used an
old school label of Caribbean habanero sauce whose name escapes now, but you’d
never find that on any other table in Austin.

Righteous Reuben......

Next time you think sandwich or burger down south (or midtown, at the Spec’s on
MOPAC, just north of Research), you can’t do much better than Spec’s,
especially when you consider the portion, quality, and price. Their secret is
getting out.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

I really hated it when Le Soliel closed down. As soon as it opened, I liked the
food much better than Sunflower, its matrimonial parent. I thought husband put
out better food than wife (the competing owners were once hubby and bride). They
split and he left to open Le Soleil while she remained at Sunflower. I also
much preferred the generous elbow room at Le Soliel, not to mention seeing a welcoming
smile and having someone treat me in a reasonably civil manner.

So about a month ago R and I were on a Vietnamese food-craving jag, and I
decided to give Sunflower another try. I had not been there in years; not since
hubby opened Le Soleil, as a matter of fact. We made a point of going late
afternoon when it would be the least crowded, and thankfully, there was only
one other table there when we arrived. The menu hadn’t changed, nor had the
layout; tables are crammed uncomfortably close together. If you hunker down,
you can have a private conversation but you’ll also know what all your neighboring
diners are discussing. You’ll get brushed up against by servers and anyone
trying to get to or leave their table. The place is a space violator.

Chicken salad

The food has slipped. We started with a chicken salad (# 21) and noticed one
thing right off the bat. The salad was tight-fisted with the chicken and very
lightly dressed; the tiny dish of nuoc cham they brought with it was barely
enough for that dish, much less the remainder of the meal. It’s fish sauce, water, sugar, and a little
lime juice for crissakes. Even though we had requested to get our four dishes
in two courses, the remainder all came out at once. We were trying to avoid the
clutter of three dishes, and all their side dishes coming all at once. Two
tables in the joint, one of which had finished, and they couldn't accommodate that
simple request.

Green beans with tofu in spicy sauce

Bo Luc Lac

Green bean and tofu with spicy sauce
(#88) was fine; I ordered it mostly as a nod toward some vegetables. Shaking beef (Bo Luc Lac, # 34), whose flavor
used to explode with every tender bite, was underwhelming. The chunks of beef
were of a lesser cut and not as tender; the flavor punch was lacking and the
cubes looked lonely on the plate. Grilled pork meatballs (Nem nuong, # 14), was
underseasoned and cooked too long, making the balls dense and tough in the
wrapper. Even with some herbs wrapped inside the rice papers and a shallow dunk
in what little nuoc cham remained, they couldn’t be resurrected.

Nem Nuong

If I come in and drop 40+ bucks for 2 people, the least you can do is smile and
thank me for coming. The angry but bored expression on the woman checking us
out did not change the entire time I was paying out. Luckily I knew that you had to go up to the
counter to pay, or we would probably still be sitting there. Just me, but if I
had a restaurant with limited floor space, I’d be dropping checks and politely hustling
people out the door so I could turn more tables. I’d also appreciate my
patrons.

The impression I was left with is that they were allowing us to come eat their
food. Back in the day, the abuse of hostile service in an uncomfortably cramped
space was worth it, because their food was really good. Now, not so much.

If you want to make your own shaking beef, here’s a great recipe Art and I
developed that will be far superior to Sunflower’s:

Shaking Beef -- Bo Luc Lac

Serves 8 as an appetizer (3 ounces of beef per person), or 3 to 4
as an entree

This warm beef salad gets its colorful
name from the action of the beef cubes as they dance in the sizzling oil in the
skillet. It is a dish seldom found on Vietnamese restaurants menus in the U.S., and illustrates the French influence on
the cuisine of Vietnam
by the use of olive oil. In Vietnam
this dish is most often served at home as an evening appetizer to accompany
drinks, with a small dish of mixed salt and pepper accompanying, to which lemon
or lime juice has been added, for dipping the beef cubes.

Advance Preparation1, Combine the lemon grass, soy sauce, chile paste, garlic, fish sauce,
sugar and 2 teaspoons of the vegetable oil. Mix well.
2. Place the beef cubes in a resealable plastic bag and pour the marinade over
the beef cubes, toss well, and allow to marinate for 1 hour.
3. Marinate the onions in the vinegar, sugar, garlic, black pepper and olive oil.
Allow the onions to marinate for 1 hour.

Cooking Method4. Heat the remaining 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil in a small skillet over
medium high heat. Add the remaining 2 cloves of garlic and sauté seconds.
5. Add the beef cubes with their marinade. Sauté quickly, searing the outside.
Cook medium rare.

Service6. Toss the watercress with the onion mixture. Pour the hot beef with the
pan juices over the watercress salad and serve immediately. Accompany with a
small side dish of equal amounts of finely ground sea salt and black pepper to
which a small amount of fresh lime or lemon juice has been added.

Eat the cubes with the salad, dipping the cubes into the seasoning mixture. Chef
Notes- Be careful not to burn
the garlic when cooking the beef. Add the hot beef immediately before service
to prevent the watercress from wilting. Beef or lamb tenderloin may be
substituted for the beef ribeye, if seared only to the point of rare. Pork
tenderloin may be substituted for the beef if cooked to the point of medium. Any
lettuce or green can be substituted for the watercress, but frisee or curly
endive will match the peppery flavor.